The Stork's Nest

March 2006

Sunday, March 11, 2006

The Lake is Full!

The lake has been filling,
but this week the spring rains
have been heavy and unremitting,
filling the lake completely!

These photos were taken from
the deck, panning from left to
right.

In this photo, you can see
our tiny island.

And here you can see the dam
on the right!

We wondered why the water
looked so much deeper than we
thought it would....then we
discovered this....the grate
where the overflow goes under the
dam was totally clogged with
debris. We are guessing the water
is at least a foot over the
grate. We are hoping this is
simply because there was a lot of
floating debris from the lake
filling for the first time.
Although we may need to clear the
grate from time to time, we doubt
it will ever be quite this
clogged up again.

This is the
overflow coming out below the
dam...a huge amount of flow!

When Dave designed the lake,
he included a swale at the far
end of the dam to direct excess
water around the dam so it would
not wash the dam away when the
water was high. You can see the
water flowing around the end of
the dam here. It is nice to know
it works!

This is from the far side of
the lake, looking back toward the
house. Keep in mind that the
water level is probably a foot
higher that it would normally be.

This is a footbridge the
children built over one of the
creeks that feed the lake.
Normally, I would expect the
water to be about a foot below
the bridge.

This is our
little island. I would imagine
that when the overflow grate is
cleared, it would be a bit
larger. If you look closely, you
can see the dogwoods we planted
on the island.

In a few months,
when things dry up a bit, Dave
will return to do the final
grading around the lake,
spreading the topsoil he set
aside when he started the job.
Then we can plant the groundcover
that will help with erosion
control. My mind is already hard
at work imagining what it will
look like then.

Monday, March 27th

Fred brought me to the
Stork's Nest today so I could see
the full lake for myself....just
beautiful! I just love it!

The overflow conditions Matthew
saw two weeks ago had
disappeared. Here is the
footbridge the children made and
now the water level is down under
the bridge.

Someone, perhaps Dave who
created the lake, had placed this
board from the dam to the grate
and removed all the debris that
had been blocking the grate.

In this photo,
you can see the dogwoods we
planted on our island. Gee, I
hope they survive the move! Here
you can see how much lower the
water level is now.

We walked all the way around
the lake. This photo was taken
from the hill on the southeast
side of the lake.

This is from inside the
Master Bath. Won't this view be
fabulous?

And this is from inside the
Master Bedroom.

As we prepared to leave, we
looked back toward the lake.

Friday, March 31st, 2006

Our Visitors!

On this gray, rainy day, we
had to meet with the fireplace
people for some final
adjustments. As we looked out
through the rain at our new lake,
look what we saw! Ducks? Geese?
How exciting to see some real
wildlife inhabiting our new lake
- though these would not be my
first choice!

It was a group of five geese!
Paddling around our lake,
apparently oblivious of us! We
think the two above were the mom
and dad (Fred says they mate for
life) as they stuck together
wherever the whole flock went.
The other three, we think, were
the babies (though they were all
the same size) as they were more
playful and did not necessarily
swim in unison like this pair.